Moving mined or other mineral materials is performable by several methods. Transporting liquids or suspensions can be dangerous due to the shifting of a fluid during transport. Transporting solids can be dangerous since smaller particles can liquefy during transit and lead to the same dangers as fluid transport. Loading solids for transport can be difficult, and transported solids can be difficult to off-load once the solids reach the destination. Both off-loading and on-loading can have environmental effects.
Some mining processes recover solids, grind the recovered solids, and transport the ground, recovered solids to a station using extremely large conveyor belts. Such transporting generates dust, which, depending on the solids, may influence the quality of the environment or its inhabitants. Furthermore, sometimes solids are dewatered and thereafter hauled to deepwater ports where the dewatered solids are to be loaded on shipping containers. These shipping containers are usually hauled to yet another deepwater port, where the dewatered solids are once again offloaded and hauled off. Not only does each loading and offloading create more dust but the deepwater ports also substantially increase the cost of hauling because of the significant cost required for making, maintaining, and using a deepwater port.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are representative and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.